January 2007 Whale Sightings

January 31, 2007

We conducted another one of our Westport Surveys yesterday. We covered 136nm of trackline and had one sighting of three southbound gray whales, one elephant seal and one fur seal. Other than that, it was a quiet day on the water! Regards,
Greg Schorr, Cascadia Research

January 30, 2007

time 0908 - One gray Whale sighted off Point Wilson moving north west out of Admiralty Inlet. I watched the whale for 10 minutes getting 5 images of it one good image of its fluke showing markings. The image is posted on my flickr page (link below).
Bob Whitney, Port Townsend, WA

January 28, 2007

Some friends experienced paddling in sea kayaks by a grey between freshwater bay and crescent beach west of port angeles on Sunday morning. We were surfing at crescent, but didn’t see anything in the bay.
Rob Casey, Seattle
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At 1:30 pm we spotted a single large gray whale swimming approximately 500 feet off shore from our shoreline residence in North Beach. The whale surfaced 5 times as it moved south towards the green navigational buoy off the point at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle.
Mike Hamm, Seattle, WA.

January 24, 2007

Dave Ellifrit (Ctr. for Whale Research) just identified a few pics given to me by my friend Carol Keiper who got them from a boat - Super Fish - off San Fran. Pic is of K20.
Nancy Black, Monterey Bay WhaleWatch
I talked to Dave Ellifrit who said it appeared from the photos that K pod was heading north, spread out, & a calf was with K20 (likely K38) but K 20 was the only positive ID he could get from the photos.
This sighting makes it very likely that the Jan. 14th sighting we had of 20 orcas north of Santa Cruz was also K pod as they were heading south.
Susan Berta, Orca Network

January 23, 2007

"(CBC) Likely lost and alone after taking a wrong turn, a wayward grey whale has been sighted swimming up the Fraser River early Tuesday morning, at a time when most of its compadres are migrating south for the mating season. Whale watchers have reportedly dubbed the mammal, dotted with its characteristic grey-white marks, "Moby." But Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard cautioned that although the animal may not be under threat of being hunted anytime soon, prolonged exposure to the river water could be a danger".

January 22, 2007

Mark from the Victoria Clipper IV called in a report at 8:49 am of 3 female orcas heading south off Presidents Pt, just south of Kingston.
January 14, 2007

We received a call from Chuck Sholtz (as a result of one of Ken Balcomb's posters along the coast) reporting a large pod of 20+ orcas spread out over several hundred yards, heading south in Half Moon Bay, Pillar Pt. Harbor, 30 miles north of Santa Cruz, CA between 9 & 10 am this morning.
*T's, a male and 5+ about 6 miles South of Trial Is. going N.E. at 1400. The whales were first spotted by Mark "mallard" Malleson, Mark gave directions to Ian Stothart of Naturally Salty Excursions who was on the water. Mark was unable to make contact but Ian did get some photos.
Ron L. Bates, MMRG, Victoria

January 12, 2007

There was an Orca in our little inlet. I was too excited to think to id the dorsal for sex and didn't see the markings long enough. It was traveling slowly towards the sound. Very close to the Point Hudson Marina side of the inlet. Close enough that I could just hear it's blow. It spy hopped for me.
Claudia, Port Townsend

January 11, 2007

Point Wilson Washington; 1120 hrs, skies clear, out going tide, wind 12 kph from the west, swell 5 mtrs. Temp 1 c. While standing at the furthest northerly point at Point Wilson, looking into Admiralty Inlet, a single Gray Whale surfaced, then quickly submerged moving in a north westerly direction, surfaced again 500 mtrs to the north west, blew once, submerged and was seen moving west into the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Bob Whitney, Port Townsend, WA

January 5 or 6, 2007

We received a call from a crabber reporting seeing a pod of 8 - 10 orcas, including 1 male & at least 1 calf half-way between Coos Bay & Winchester Bay OR, in 58 fathoms of water, about 1 & a half weeks ago (Jan. 5 or 6-ish). he said they were playing & breaching, no real direction of travel. He also gave a very belated report of a pod of 8 - 10 orcas north of Coos Bay in July 2002, in 110 fathoms of water, heading north.